Illuminate
by The Kunai
Summary: So Rock Lee is staying the night at Gaara's residence after completing a mission. Neither of them can sleep, so they talk about their dreams...


A nonsense story inspired by a real dream I had. I was tired when I wrote this with no music to go along with it, so I apologize for the quality.

* * *

Sleep was impossible, somehow. 

The sky, like calligraphy ink tonight. Yet, illuminated by a sliver of a crescent with dry, clear air floating gently in warm drafts; he couldn't tell if the moon was waning or waxing however. All that the chûnin could know was that it was too easy to bend and break for a bow, and far too sharp and brittle to be entirely safe. Maybe that's why he was jolted out of a light dream that he had, from a troubling sleep that had taken him an hour to get into. Or perhaps it was because earlier that afternoon he had just completed a mission filled with blood and dead children. Either way, he had decided to get fresh air, not caring that his current attire of dark green pajamas were unsuitable for going outside on the balcony on, or that his bowl-cut was messy because of the tossing and turning. His hands, still wrapped in bandages—no really, out of habit—brushed against the solid oak doors that would lead to the outdoors, and he realized that it only needed to be pushed gently when the door handle gave him almost no trouble and no sound. Taking the hint, his tall, muscular figure stepped through. And then he stopped when his brain registered the reason why it hadn't been locked.

The Kazekage's form could have been mistaken for a shadow on a glass wall. Wrapped in a black, almost floaty casual kimono, his fragile and pale body slimmed even further…it caused his large eyes to widen even more and the young man paused as he was halfway through the door. The voice he heard next was soft, but distinct enough to pull him back to what he was doing since he wasn't looking into the other's bright teal eyes. Just at the back of his mullety auburn head.

"…good evening Rock Lee…"

Lee finally exhaled at that, the distinct bushy eyebrows relaxing on his smooth face, "…hi Gaara…"

Thank god he wasn't offended. But then again, Sabaku no Gaara had become especially amiable since that little incident with his bijuu and its removal. He and Lee had developed a sort of friendship ever since the Chûnin exams several years ago, and while it was still unsteady at least neither jumped to too many conclusions after someone did something or whatnot. The door did not close all the way as he went through the threshold, joining Gaara's side at the metal railing that was oddly cold despite the desert environment and remaining a little less than a foot away.

Just in case. And the other didn't care too much it seemed.

Neither teenager spoke a word at first. It was just the sand-nin staring out into that endless sea of beige, and the leaf-nin staring at his profile. Changed even more since the last he had seen him, ne? The red hair had grown even longer, in need of a trimming, probably hiding the tattoo on his forehead even though it wasn't visible from his side. Those bags under Gaara's eyes had faded somewhat due to recent sleeping habits, though it was doubtful whether they would completely disappear…

Before he was aware of the action, Lee's hand had extended towards the other's eyes to gently trace a little of the eye shadow, but when he felt the delicate and slightly wrinkled skin—not to mention Gaara gave him a rather bizarre stare that asked 'what the HELL are you doing', and he had flinched somewhat—the green beast blinked his heavily lashed eyes awkwardly and backed off again, his flush apparent on the revealing expression.

"Sorry about that; didn't mean to—"

"It's alright."

His blunt response ended that.

But in the short, semi-distant time they had spent together, Lee was already good at identifying when Gaara was angry or when he was just being…Gaara. This time, no insult taken. Almost pleased, as a matter of fact. They leaned a little on the railing that overlooked most of the town and the surrounding dunes at the same time, and Lee smiled broadly. He couldn't tell what it was that the Kazekage had responded with, but at least it was affable in a subtle sense.

It made the moon feel a little less like a piece of broken glass and more like peering out of a dark container with a partially covered round opening. Promising daylight streaming through it. Speaking of which, now he was beginning to feel sleepy again. Maybe this time he would be able to fall asleep more quickly on the cushy guest mattress. As he turned to leave though he felt something grasp onto his loose sleeve and tug it ever so slightly. In the manner that was Gaara though, slightly was more than enough.

"Leaving so soon?" The other asked calmly, looking him plainly in the eyes this time, seemingly bored in anticipating watching the wind push around some wisps of sand that had made it onto the roofs of the lower-level homes by himself. At first Lee was frightened, but he had to keep in mind that this wasn't the vicious enemy of the past. Both had changed from the years that had gone by. Gaara wanted nothing more than a tad bit of company, and he figured that staying up a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. The grip relaxed when he returned to where he was, not noticing he was a couple of inches closer than before.

"That's better," the red-head continued, maintaining the best poker face on the planet, "As friends we should spend more time with each other…that is how it works, no?"

Lee nodded to keep the conversation going, "Hai."

The topic that Gaara picked next couldn't have surprised him more though.

"…tell me…about your dreams. When you sleep."

If he weren't scarily serious all the time and only watching him from a side glance, Lee might have laughed it off a little. But mister sand man looked almost a little embarrassed and that would have been the wrong thing to do anyway, "Dreams…? Let me see…just anything, right?"

"Yes." O'course; no daaaa.

"Well…" Lee began, thinking hard about a dream he remembered clearly, "Oh! I know…this dream started off with you being dissatisfied being the Kazekage, so you took out all your mission papers and got out a dictionary to find the synonyms for every single word just to vex people. You were sitting crosslegged on a bed and I was laying near you, singing about skittles and watching you."

He paused, furtively glancing at the other. Gaara was very patient with him, his silent demeanor whispering 'go on…' as if he were drinking this information, "Then…I realized we were staying at a hotel and the pool had been redesigned recently. It was a shallow, U-shaped pool and everywhere else that wasn't part of the water was filled with all sorts of tropical plants that created a Chinese feel. I felt that the only thing missing was white birds…"

Was he rambling a bit? It was a natural tendency after all, and the chûnin had originally wanted to stop it at the first part. Still Gaara goaded him on, even though he wasn't saying a word. Just his expression, like a child being read a bedtime story…maybe that was what it was all about.

"Finally we were invited to visit a bright apartment. The residents that lived in it had left to go swimming though, and they left behind their fat sister. Her name was Odette. She was nice, but a little depressed because the others didn't want her to come along because she wasn't beautiful. We thanked her for inviting us and she didn't take offense. Instead, she asked us about whether the green chairs or the red chairs were most suitable for the pool…"

The little chairs. He remembered them clearly. Shiny, cute little wooden stools painted bright red and green. The green ones had flower patterns on it, lotus it looked like, and the red ones had kanji written on one of the legs. As he thought of it, Lee's eyes noticed that Gaara had turned his face to look at him completely and he could see a faint tracing of the crimson symbol partially curtained by strands of wispy red, the kanji for love…

Peculiar, "…and then you just got bored and looked through your dictionary again, and I stared at the chairs. That's about it."

Any other person besides Gai-sensei would have definitely been lost at this point and been staring at something else with a thick gauze coated on their eyeballs. However, the red-haired teenager simply nodded sagely as if what ever that had been had completely made sense, "…did you ever…contemplate its potential meaning?"

Lee almost made a 'durp' noise about here.

"Not really. Although now that I think about it…why?"

"Recently I have been reading a book about interpreting dreams. At the very least there are fragments of truth to it."

Gaara had turned around, his back leaning on the rail this time so he was squarely facing the sole source of bright natural light. In this environment his arms somehow resembled the wrist bends of a bird in flight, and Lee became distinctly distracted by that. The other boy stayed oddly quiet for a lengthy amount of time, and it occurred to the green beast to respond to that statement.

"…have you had a dream that had significance of some sort?" The question was carefully worded, with the green-clad young man tilting his head a tad in Gaara's direction. Lee didn't really think it was possible, but the response was even softer, cooler.

"It was us. You and I, a sunny day, and we were just conversing…" At this point his defined face slanted back to stare at the sky. A surprising amount of stars were out, the listener noticed; each one had left a trace in the pools of robin-blue eyes, and the speaker paused as he saw a star flicker red for a few seconds before resuming, "…you appeared troubled, somehow…it hurt…"

At first Lee was just listening politely, but it seemed that the Kazekage had a gift for storytelling. Or maybe it was just because it was like the lapping of small ocean waves, for he felt hypnotized. He abruptly realized that Gaara had turned to look at him again, "And then you said to me, 'To be together…is to destroy each other…'…"

The message echoed in his mind, like an empty box.

And soon the only thing he could hear was a faint piece of paper skidding along the dirt roads of the streets far below them. Teal eyes, empty at first glance but full of unspeakable perception; they let go of their grasp and the taijutsu user relaxed his muscles. When Lee realized he had been holding his breath he let go and the eerie chills stopped instantly as well, but they never left entirely.

"That's…deep…"

"Yes…"

Another pause in their conversation, timed precisely by a stronger breeze flowing between the two.

"So…" Lee began unsurely, "…do you know what it means?"

A sigh, wistful, calm.

"…it means we should not take love for granted."

And that he understood.

It was strange how being with Gaara muddled his thoughts with concepts too difficult to comprehend, yet they were as simple as that damned crescent moon. Large black eyes looked up to observe it yet again, the painfully sharp light on the sliver in the sky, only two stars accompanying it in the otherwise lonely space that it claimed for itself; then his sight fell on that beautiful, distant figure swathed in black silk with his head lifted toward the heavens. And his poignant gaze while he watched the sky's slow transition, with his eyes illuminated like still water…it tugged at Lee's chest from the inside.

Tentatively, Lee turned around to lean on the railing with his back as well, and his arm rested across Gaara's bony shoulders.


End file.
